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I recently had a box replaced by an electrician. I wanted to ask you if you recommend turning the circuit breakers off during severe thunderstorms and do you think that would protect the kiln? Does repetitive turning on and off loosen or wear the connections of the breakers?

I live along the Gulf coast now and the weather freaks me out sometimes. What can I say. I lived in Montana for decades and the storms never bothered me. But here they are much more severe. My car was parked at the airport when there was 11 inches of rain in an hour. The water damaged the main computer box under the driver's

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I know that I am not an electrician, but it sounds a bit extreme to me to have to run out to your studio during an electrical storm to turn the breakers, or the entire panel off. If there was a power surge, wouldn't the breakers turn themselves off?

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Tom - No, I'm pretty sure from the number of items we lost this summer that the breakers won't turn off in a lightning strike!

I'm currently using the breaker as a switch, since unplugging is a pain. But I leave it that way any time I'm not firing, so I don't have to run out and turn it off. But, consequently, I'm also interested in the answer to Marcia's question.

Alice

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My large oval kiln is direct wired so I can't unplug it. I just shut off the breakers on all the kilns, even the ones with plugs. I read a while ago that plugging and unplugging the kilns is bad wear and tear on that mechanism. So which is a better way to shut off? Breakers or plugs? My kilns are computer controlled. The big one is direct wired.

Marcia

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Marcia - My plug is very hard to get in and out, and it didn't seem like a good thing to do it repeatedly. The BEST option is to put in a dedicated shut-off switch that's made to do that with. But we didn't think of that until the drywall was done, soooo..... I don't operate mine more than a couple times a month yet, so we're going on the premise that flipping the breaker will cause wear-and-tear on the breaker. We installed it, so we can replace it! And my husband is confident that any failure would be in the latching mechanism, not in the electrical components. Still, I'll be interested if anyone else chimes in. Maybe I'll contact some breaker manufacturers and get their opinion..... when real life allows...

Alice

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You might want to consider a shut-off switch leading in to your studio . . . one thal allows you to kill the power if a bad storm is coming. Another option is a good surge protector on the main line. Easier to replace a surge protector that gets fried than a studio full of computer-controlled kilns and other equipment.

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You might want to consider a shut-off switch leading in to your studio . . . one thal allows you to kill the power if a bad storm is coming. Another option is a good surge protector on the main line. Easier to replace a surge protector that gets fried than a studio full of computer-controlled kilns and other equipment.

Thanks. Yes I have a switch there too. Probably that is the most simple solution.

Marcia

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You might want to consider a shut-off switch leading in to your studio . . . one thal allows you to kill the power if a bad storm is coming. Another option is a good surge protector on the main line. Easier to replace a surge protector that gets fried than a studio full of computer-controlled kilns and other equipment.

Thanks. Yes I have a switch there too. Probably that is the most simple solution.

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I recently had a box replaced by an electrician. I wanted to ask you if you recommend turning the circuit breakers off during severe thunderstorms and do you think that would protect the kiln? Does repetitive turning on and off loosen or wear the connections of the breakers?

Marcia

I'm not an electrician, but I have done extensive research on the subject and done a bit of work myself at home....

Yes, flipping the breakers on and off does create a certain amount of wear on them; also, repeated plugging/unplugging of the kiln itself (if it's not direct wired) creates wear on the outlet.

The breakers will NOT necessarily trip if there is a power surge.

FWIW, if you decide to install a whole-house surge protector, make sure that the whole shebang is properly grounded, because that's how surge protectors work -- they send the surge into the ground instead of into the wiring.

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You can wear down breakers using them a lot-I do not live in lightning country but if I did the whole house surge protector is the way to go. Second choice is throw the breaker that controls ALL studio power and if that wears out over time just replace that one.

As far as plugs vs hard wiring -hard wiring wins every time as the plug is just one more place that heat builds up due to that connection-leave the plugs in as they will get looser if plugged in and out a lot.

Breaker do wear out but are not that expense to replace.

The more amps the better to hard wire it. My max draw on the big skutt kiln is 48 amps on a 60 amp curcuit.

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I would just normally leave the breakers on. Unless they are running and your having electrical storms. I think I would shut them down then, but I'd be more worried that a brown out could do harm then.

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I've got in the habit of putting an Isolator Switch in the line. It comes from my husband's background in industrial robotics. Anyway, Isolator Switches are the big red ones and they often have a place for a padlock to keep them locked in the off position, which is handy if you have issues with kids, students, etc in your work space.